Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Oodles of Noodles
Illustrator: Sarah Massini
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Tiger Tales, 2008 ISBN: 978-1589250758
When she gets a pasta-making machine for her birthday, Mrs. Mungo is thrilled. Her children, Ava and Ben, are not at all happy. They don't like noodles and want burgers and fries instead, but their mother sets to work making a "huge" ball of dough for making pasta. When the children leave for school, Mrs. Mungo gets to work making the noodles. "I'll soon have oodles of noodles," she says.
As soon as these words are out of mouth, the pasta machine starts behaving as if it is bewitched. Its handle turns by itself, and in no time poor Mrs. Mungo is encased in a "noodle sleeping bag." It isn't long before there are noodles all over the house. Then the noodles begin to wiggle their way out into the street. Mrs. Mungo does not know how to get the pasta-making machine to stop.
In this delightful culinary story, the author gives her readers a rollicking tale of high noodle adventure. With a clever use of words, Diana Henry makes her story irresistible, and Sarah Massini's multimedia illustrations perfectly compliment the infectious and enjoyable text.
